Chocolate Mousse-Filled Strawberries (Dairy Free!)

Like a lot of you out there, I am a sucker for chocolate-covered strawberries. I don’t care if it’s Valentine’s Day, my birthday, or a Wednesday, I can never say no to a berry dipped in chocolate. Since I’ve had to make a series of diet changes over the past few years, I’m always on the lookout for options to add to my list of healthier desserts and snacks. Finding a solution for my chocolate-covered strawberry craving was actually as easy as tweaking a healthy chocolate frosting recipe that I already make on the regular (it always tasted more like a mousse than a frosting to me anyway). If you’re looking for a healthier dessert option, I think you’re going to love it too!

First you’ll want to take your can of full fat coconut milk and either put it in the freezer for 20 minutes, or leave it in the fridge overnight. You want the coconut milk to separate into half a watery mixture (which you can use in smoothies if you’d like) and half a white solid. Every once in a while, you may get a can that doesn’t separate for some reason (try not to shake your can beforehand if possible). So try another can or brand if that’s the case. Once you freeze or refrigerate your can, turn it upside down, open the bottom with a can opener, and pour out the watery liquid on top. You should be left with the white solid at the bottom that you can scoop out into a bowl.

Combine your coconut milk solid, cocoa power, vanilla extract, and salt in a mixer and blend until completely combined (you may still have a few small specks of coconut milk that don’t want to blend, but don’t worry about those). Let the mixture chill for about 20 minutes in the fridge.

Use a paring knife (or other small knife) to cut a cone shape into the top of the strawberry so you remove the top and create a hole for the mousse to go down into. The mousse is actually pretty rich, so I didn’t dig as deep into the strawberry as I could. About halfway down will still do the trick.

Fill an icing bag with a large icing tip and the mousse so you can pipe the mousse into the strawberries. If you don’t have an icing bag and tip, you can put it in a plastic bag and snip off one of the corners instead.

Finely chop some almonds (or hazelnuts, or whatever kind of nuts you want) and roll the tops of the mousse in the chopped nuts. Of course, if you hate nuts, then skip this part!

Keep your filled berries in the fridge until you are ready to eat them. The richness of the mousse goes so well with the sweetness of the berry and the nutty crunch of the almonds. This is totally a guilt-free snack that feels really indulgent, and frankly, that’s one of my favorite kinds of snacks. It also doesn’t hurt that they look so pretty cut in half! I love that my options for delicious, but healthier, food keep growing. Do you think this snack would hit the spot for you too? xo. Laura

This looks so good! Im such a sucker for Chocolate and strawberries combined together in anyway. I mean how can one not be? This is such a good alternative to the usual chocolate covered strawberries 🙂

Just a suggestion: I think that if you are going to do food posts and claim them as “healthy” and “guilt-free” you have some responsibility to post nutrition facts, since those are relative terms. Just one tablespoon of full-fat coconut milk consists of 15% of your daily saturated fat in-take…and this recipe calls for a full can. The fact that fat comes from a nut instead of a cow might be appealing to some, but some might consider “healthy” to mean low fat as opposed to non-dairy. Being dairy-free does not make it healthy, just like being vegetarian doesn’t automatically make you healthier if you only eat carbohydrates. I think it is great that you are willing to share about your food restrictions, since it is something that many of us deal with, but remember that everything is relative when you use words like “healthy.” It can be misleading. Dairy-free might be healthier for you, but that is not true for everyone. And certainly not when you are dealing with one of the fattiest natural foods that exists, namely, coconuts.

Be careful! These might not help you control weight gain. They are just as bad or worse for fat in-take as regular chocolate. As someone who struggles with these kinds of food designations myself, I’m just trying to be helpful 🙂

I saw this comment and would like to add a little to it. I agree that healthy nutrition does vary for everyone. But I feel compelled to state that, because of the unique properties in the make-up of the fat of coconuts (the fatty acid chains in coconuts are medium fatty acid chains, which lends to their special characteristics) coconut oil/fat is considered by many researchers and doctors as the healthiest fat (for example, coconut oil encourages weight-loss and a healthy heart–which is just the opposite of other oils. Just take a look at the Pacific Islanders whose main intake of fat is from coconuts and other tropical oils; and their fat intake can make-up more than 50% of their diet!) Again, I do agree that a healthy diet is different for everyone, but researches have conducted many studies proving that coconut oil is a fat that everyone can benefit from. (For more on this, I would encourage you to read “The Coconut Oil Miracle” by Bruce Fife) I hope you have a wonderful day, Emma!

To be honest, I’m not the biggest fan of chocolate dipped strawberries. However, I do love chocolate mousse, so I’d probably end up eating the mousse on it’s own, without any berries. Totally ok, right? 😉

Thanks for the insight Matea! For me, I try to avoid refined sugar and dairy more than focusing on the fat content (although I agree not all fats are the same), so this recipe is a much better choice for me than a lot of alternatives 🙂

You’ve just made a pregnant lady very very happy!! I was starting to run out of ideas on how to eat strawberries (their my absolute craving!) and now I’ve discovered one more way. Thank YOU very much!!
I’ve been following along for a while and love getting your updates on blogloving’. I especially liked being able to take a tour through your homes…they’re gorgeous! And so creatively and tastefully decorated!